Glossy photo quality media having a fiber or cellulose raw base or core is coated on a front side with a polyethylene (PE) layer to provide gloss. The PE layer may be extruded using a mirror image chill roll on an extruder. The back side of the raw base is extrusion coated using a mirror image chill roll as well, for example with PE, to facilitate curl control of the raw base among other things. The thickness or coat weight of the front side PE gloss coating can vary from about 15 grams per square meter (gsm) to about 25 gsm for typical photo media. An image receiving layer is also applied to the front side, on the PE gloss coating. The image receiving layer is compatible with materials typically used to form images, e.g., inks Photo quality media typically has a gloss at 20 degrees that ranges from about 26% to about 35% and an average distinctness of image (DOI) that is about 2.5 mm−1. However, a minimum gloss that may be classified as high gloss for photo quality media is 40% gloss at 20 degrees, for example for inkjet photo printing. Moreover, the DOI should be greater than 3.5 mm−1 for obtaining quality images on high gloss photo quality media. The coat weight of the PE coating on the front side of the photo quality media has been increased in an attempt to increase one or both of the gloss and increase the DOI, for example, but not without reaching a plateau at about 30 gsm coat weight that is still below the high gloss classification.
Certain examples have other features that are one of in addition to and in lieu of the features illustrated in the above-referenced figures. These and other features are detailed below with reference to the above-referenced figures.